Coherent vector-meson photoproduction with nuclear breakup in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Relativistic heavy ions are copious sources of virtual photons. The large photon flux gives rise to a substantial photonuclear interaction probability at impact parameters where no hadronic interactions can occur. Multiple photonuclear interactions in a single collision are possible. In this Letter,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 89; no. 1; p. 012301
Main Authors Baltz, Anthony J, Klein, Spencer R, Nystrand, Joakim
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.07.2002
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Summary:Relativistic heavy ions are copious sources of virtual photons. The large photon flux gives rise to a substantial photonuclear interaction probability at impact parameters where no hadronic interactions can occur. Multiple photonuclear interactions in a single collision are possible. In this Letter, we use mutual Coulomb excitation of both nuclei as a tag for moderate-impact-parameter collisions. We calculate the cross section for coherent vector-meson production accompanied by mutual excitation and show that the median impact parameter is much smaller than for untagged production. The vector-meson rapidity and transverse-momentum distribution are very different from untagged exclusive vector-meson production.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.012301